Letters | Thanks for Longmont piece

I literally shed tears reading this article. I could not possibly, no matter how I tried, more accurately summarize my thoughts and feelings about what is happening in Longmont. I have given so much time to researching fracking, talking to friends in the area, writing city council members (and state/national politicians), attending city council meetings (that last one until the next day) and, finally, gathering petition signatures for hours upon hours each day — it has almost become a part-time job. It’s consumed my life.

I’m not an activist — I’m just a mom who doesn’t take no for an answer when it comes to the safety and health of my kids. But things have become downright vitriolic about this issue. Longmont is a very divided town, and this issue has really grabbed hold of us all on both sides. I’ve stopped reading articles, writing letters, paying attention. ... It’s become too much for me to stand. But reading your article has made me feel completely vindicated. You’re so completely right about the intent of the state to make an example of us. About the people with their canned speeches to city council provided by COGA. If I have to hear about how Colorado has the most transparent and rigorous guidelines for drilling in the country, I will scream. And I’m sure that all of the out of work software engineers in town can’t wait to snatch up all the jobs provided by O&G out on the oil rigs.

Sorry, I digress, and I’m preaching to the choir. But your voice and ability to call out the bullshit publicly has made me feel ready to take on the next level of the fight that we’ve found ourselves in. It’s so worth it.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Lindsay Gahn/via Internet

Joel [Dyer], if I had you right here with me, I would give you the biggest kiss and hug of your life. (Excuse me if you have a wife!)

The Longmont community owes you a debt of gratitude for the article. And Gore Vidal is smiling on you right now, saying, “Pretty good job, kiddo”!

I thank you for the clarity you bring to the issues, and together “we can/will change the outcome.”

When I was petitioning (for the [fracking] ban), a man walked up to me from Fremont County, Wyo. (where Pavillion is). I’m holding my clipboard and a copy of your “lessons in fracking” issue. Man, did he ever go on. And with a passion like you’ve never seen or heard ... he talked about ozone clouds in the winter, garbage in their beloved trout streams, ruined ranch values, mess everywhere, etc. Three times he looked at my clipboard and said, “Man, I wish.” He called the people up there “prairie settlers” … too spread out to stop anything, none of them had a chance. Born out of frustration, he just wished he could sign on the line, so he could feel like he did something, anything. I wrote a piece about him and had someone read it at council, as I was too busy making petition signs. We need to have more people in town reading you ... we must find a way.

Fred Gabriel/Longmont

I have read a lot of articles in Boulder Weekly promoting locally grown food. Why, then, is the sourcing of oil and gas locally met with such disapproval and outrage?

A recent issue featured pictures of relatively small, unobtrusive oil wells behind fences in parks and (gasp) golf courses that were clearly meant to offend the reader.

I would rather see oil wells in local public places and on undeveloped land than pay foreigners who hate us for their oil and fight wars over it.

Amy Puls/via Internet

Celebrating Jerry Garcia

(Re: “Jerry Garcia’s 70th,” Stew’s Views, July 26.) Indeed. Really nice article about celebrating Jerry. The Winnie the Pooh quote was so touching at both ends of the article. Thanks for penning many of my own feelings.

I fail to understand how you can allow and possibly even pay someone like Paul Danish to state opinions as if they are facts.

I am not sure what planet he is on, but it is certainly different than the rest of us. Since when does jobs for a few (temporary jobs at that) override the well-being of the community at large? Since when does breathing in cancer chemicals like benzene take second place to giving a bunch of guys beer money to work in an industry that pads the pockets of the 1 percent?

I will not accept that my taxes have to fix roads that are damaged by heavy equipment heading to and from frack sites. I will not accept that the public will have to pay the burden of the cancers that our children develop from breathing the polluted air flowing from the gas wells in eastern Colorado. I will not accept turning over a world to my grandchildren that is a desert due to billions of gallons of water permanently removed from the hydrologic cycle permanently by fracking. Put the fracking money into solar and wind energy, and I guarantee there will be plenty of jobs. And they will be jobs that will still exist in 25 years, unlike those that will be gone as soon as we run out of oil.

But then, in Mr. Danish’s universe, maybe gas and oil are as infinite as his ignorance. In my universe those things are finite. Give me a fracking break here. Mr. Danish has about as much intelligence as his namesake pastry.